


Tenacity

by davidwrites



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Angst, Dating, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Nightmares, Physical Abuse, Psychological Trauma, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:53:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davidwrites/pseuds/davidwrites
Summary: Carlos Sainz Jr. will join Ferrari for the 2021 seasonThe headline was shining from Lando's phone, almost blinding him. Carlos Sainz is moving to Ferrari, replacing Sebastian Vettel. Lando didn't even notice the tear running down his face until it landed on the screen, blurrying out the letters. He leaned against the wall, his head resting against the window.From an outsider's point of view, you may have thought that tear represented sadness, sadness resulting from the loss of a good friend, a good teammate. You couldn't be further from the truth. That tear - that single, heavy tear represented relief. It would finally be over.
Relationships: Lando Norris/Daniel Ricciardo
Comments: 26
Kudos: 138





	1. New Beginnings

The 2020 season had finally come to an end. The race in Abu Dhabi was forgettable for Lando - just like many other races this year. There was something different about this race though. This was the last race, the last time Lando would have to be afraid. From now on, he could enjoy being a driver. He could do anything he wanted, he could try as hard as he desired. There was no one stopping him.

Lando left the celebrations early. With the results from the last three races, McLaren secured 3rd position in the Constructors championship. The team was ecstatic, deciding to throw a party right after the race. Lando stayed for about an hour, before his body couldn't take any more walking and his mind was unable to process any new information. All he wanted to do was sleep and forget about the last two years of his life.

He was sat at the foot of his bed, his hotel room empty and quiet. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, but he felt like he needed a long, warm shower beforing submitting his mind to the dream world. He took of his shirt, wincing at the pain in his ribs. He messed up last weekend, he did what he wasn't supposed to and it cost him. The bruise was still a deep, purple colour, the edges of it green as a sign of the healing process. He shook his head. He would never have to worry about any of this again. 

He undid his belt and took of his pants, keeping his boxers on as he made his way into the bathroom. He didn't turn on the light, not wanting to see himself in the mirror, instead he walked straight over to the shower and turned it on. He was about to undress and step in when there was a knock on his door. Too tired to realise what he was doing, he turned the water off and walked over to the door, opening it slightly.

"Yeah?" he asked, his vision a bit blurry because of the bright hallway lights. 

"Landooo!" A familiar voice echoud through the air, too loud for Lando's liking as he winced slightly at the sound. He blinked a few times to help his eyes focus. 

"What are you doing here, Dan?" He asked, finally recognizing the figure stood just inches away from him.

"Can't come and congratulate my future teammate? I don't like you." The Aussie slurred, his everlasting grin plastered over his face as always. He pushed past Lando and walked inside the room.

"Can we not do this right now, I'm really tired." Lando said, opening the door a bit wider and standing beside it, signaling the Aussie to leave.

"Oh come on mate! You had a good season, you're supposed to be celebrating! You can sleep when you're dead." Daniel grinned, sitting himself down on Lando's bed. His eyes scanned the room until they finally landed on the young brit. The grin disappeared from his face almost immediately, his gaze filled with concern instead.

"What happened?" He asked, his sight glued to the massive bruise on Lando's side. It was weird seeing him act so serious. Lando shook his head and gave a small smile, hoping Dan was too drunk to realize it was fake.

"Fell of my bike during a track walk last week." He lied through his teeth but he was absolutely never going to admit how he got the bruise, or the hundreds of bruises before this one. Daniel, indeed too drunk to notice anything off immediately went back to being his bubbly self, his smile returning.

"Might wanna be more careful then mate, wouldn't want my team mate getting hurt." He giggled. "Now get dressed, we're celebrating. There's still a lot of people downstairs."

Lando shook his head again. "I wasn't lying when I said I was tired. I really need to go to sleep." 

Daniel didn't look too bothered by that answer as he got up from the bed and walked over to the door. He put his hand on Lando's bare shoulder and squeezed it, muttering something along the lines of "good night then" before leaving the room, carrying a bottle of Gin Lando didn't even notice he was holding before.

He closed the door and exhaled deeply. He couldn't help a tear escape from his eye as he slowly walked over to the shower, finally undressing and stepping in, letting the hot water wash away every emotion he was feeling. He would never admit it out loud, but he always imagined that the warm embrace of a shower was a person's embrace instead.

\---

Lando woke up late the next day, not really worrying much about his flight back home. While he was looking forward to finally being back there after three very hectic weeks, he was definitely not excited for the loneliness. His roommate had moved out earlier that year and he was too busy to find someone else to live with. His life in the paddock was fast paced enough for him to not have to worry about what he’d have to occupy himself with in case of downtime.

Now though, he had at least three months until winter testing and even that would only take three days. He rubbed his eyes with his fists and streched his arms before sitting himself up. He couldn’t help but look down at his body, the bruise now losing it’s purple paint, turning into a green and yellow mess. He was so weak.

He finally managed to drag himself out of bed, putting his jeans on before grabbing a clean shirt from his suitcase. He was ready to leave this hotel room, this country, this year. He packed the few things he took out over the last five days before leaving the room, clenching the keycard in his left hand. He pressed the button for the elevator while looking for his earbuds in his pockets. He pulled them out just as the elevator door opened and he stepped in. 

“Hold it!” A voice too familiar for Lando liking shouted down the hallway. He was really hoping he wouldn’t see him again. Carlos stuck his hand into the door, preventing it from closing. He stepped in and stood right behind Lando.

“You better not try anything stupid next season, understand?’’ He whispered into the young boy’s ear. ”Wouldn’t want you getting in trouble now, would we.’’ Carlos hissed, pressing his knuckle into Lando’s ribs. The brit shook, inhaling sharply at the sudden jolt of pain. Carlos knew exactly where it would hurt the most. He stepped back, leaving Lando alone for the time being. The elevator ride was uncomfortable to say the least, as the young one tried to keep tears from spilling out.

They finally reached the bottom floor, Carlos shoulder checking him on the way out. Lando put his earbuds in and put his playlist of shuffle, the soothing sound of music filling his ears quickly, his mind feeling lighter already. Music was a thing that he always found serenity in. 

He dragged his suitcase behind him, staring into his phone. He had no new notifications except for one from instagram. He clicked and saw that Daniel had tagged him in a photo. The caption read: “Really looking forward to the next season. Also happy to have this guy as my teammate!”

Lando remembered that picture. That day was particularly bad, because he managed to overtake Carlos on track and keep the position, causing the spaniard to get physical with him for the first time after the race. He obviously didn’t expect it, so when Carlos knocked on his door, he opened it with a smile. As soon as he stepped in and the door was shut, all hell broke loose. When he finally managed to get off the floor, wipe his tears away and walk out, Daniel caught him walking past. He insisted on taking that picture, so that Lando would have a reminder of his achievement. If only he knew.

—

When Lando finally unlocked his front door, he barely made it inside before collapsing to the ground. He was exhausted, not only from the nearly eight hour flight, but also because his mind wouldn’t stop racing. He didn’t get any sleep on the plane because as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw his face, red with anger, his eyes empty and an ugly smile on his lips.

It took a few minutes but he managed to get up, leaving his suitcase on the floor. He walked up the steps into his bedroom, took off his clothes and fell into bed. He was almost asleep when he received a text message, his phone making a loud noise and vibrating as a result. He figured he’d look at it later and immediately started falling asleep again only to be interrupted by yet another message. He groaned and pulled his phone out from the pocket of his jeans.

Carlos: I rly hope you don’t think u can do anything stupid next year 

Carlos: if you ever try something i will show you you worthless idiot

Lando dropped his phone on the floor, pulling his knees to his chest. He hissed at the pain coming from his ribs but hugged his legs and put his head between them. He no longer had to hide the tears, so he just let them run freely. Soon enough, he was sobbing so hard his entire body was shaking. Minutes later, he was out cold. His knees still pressed tightly against his chest as tear drops dried on his cheeks.

—

It wasn't long before Lando was able to push everything aside and focus on his streaming instead. He was having a blast playing games with his friends, whether it was racing games or shooters. He still did all the things he was supposed to, such as put in hours on the sim, work out and attend team meetings, but he was feeling a lot better than at the end of last year.

Him and Daniel had yet to meet as teammates, but they texted occasionally about the progress the team was making, the notes they had taken in prior meetings and just general team topics. Daniel tried to ask Lando a few times if he was sad to lose Carlos as a teammate because they had such good chemistry but Lando always changed the topic instead, refusing to answer.

It was nearly time for testing when he realised he was actually looking forward to getting back into the car. He lost the desire to drive at the start of last year because he knew just how much trouble he'd get into if he did well in a race. It was right after his first podium as well. An achievement some F1 drivers never even get to experience and there he was almost in tears because he knew all too well what was going to come later that day.

He messaged Daniel before he went to sleep, saying he was really excited for the upcoming season and he's glad to have him as a teammate. He didn't expect to get a reply right away because of timezones, so instead, he let himself be taken away by the dream world.

He woke up quite late the next morning, the clock read 11:23 when he glanced at it. He exhaled loudly before pushing himself up and walking over to the kitchen. He made himself pancakes and coffee before he carried both upstairs and set them down on his desk. He grabbed his phone and saw he had a message from Dan.

Daniel: same man, honestly pumped for next season. looking forward to finally spending time with you at testing as well ;)

Lando giggled at the message as he loaded up his computer. He watched a few YouTube videos while eating before tweeting out that he's going live for the last time before testing.

His stream was going really well for the first few hours, which is when he noticed carlossainz55jr sent a message in his chat. He was quite sure that it wasn't actually Carlos; the spaniard had never shown any interest in Lando's stream or even just gaming in general, but the thought of Carlos being there, watching Lando do the only thing he felt safe doing made his stomach hurt. It didn't take long before he saw yet another message pop up.

"Lando check your phone." Was all it said, he didn't acknowledge the message on stream and waited a couple seconds before glancing down at his phone. He saw the notification and he zoned out, staring down at it, completely forgetting he was being watched by thousands of people. 

His hands came together as he tried to calm himself down, before he took his mouse and clicked on Carlos' name in his chat.

Account created Nov 21st 2019.  
Following since Nov 21st 2019.  
2 Previous messages. 

He had been watching him for over a year. For over a year, Lando found twitch streaming his only escape, a world so different from reality. A world where Carlos did not exist, a world in which he could not hurt him. And it was all a lie. Carlos had been watching him for a year without his knowledge.

He stuttered a bit before realising he had been zoned out for minutes. His chat was moving rapidly, everyone was confused by what was going on. Lando looked at his stream, seeing the look on his own face made him want to puke. 

"I uh, I'm really sorry guys - I, I have to go for now. I might come back later, I don't know." He muttered into his microphone before ending the stream. His hands felt cold, almost frozen solid as he tried to grab his phone, proceeding to drop it on the floor instead.

As he bent down to pick it up, he received another message, this time, though, not from Carlos.

Daniel: You alright?

His eyes scanned the two words carefuly. What? What was he talking about? He replied with a question mark and opened Carlos' message.

Carlos: How about we play a game together :)

Carlos was enjoying this. He knew exactly how Lando would react and he didn't even need to see it. It brought him pleasure to know how much he was messing with Lando's head, just how much power he had over him. It was honestly quite sad. He didn't even have to try anymore, no matter what he said, he'd always get a reaction.

Lando's finger hovered over the block button. He was too scared to do it, though. Carlos wouldn't like that and he didn't want to piss him off. God, that was the last thing he wanted to do.

His wondering was interrupted by a video chat. 

Daniel would like to FaceTime you.

He took a deep breath before putting on a smile and answering.

"Hey, what's up?" He smiled at Daniel, hoping the shitty camera quality wouldn't let the aussie recognize the dead look in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked, his voice laced with concern. He wasn't smiling, which was an unusual sight.

"Yeah of course, why wouldn't I be?" Lando questioned, his smile becoming smaller as he tried to pull it together.

"Well I was watching your stream and you just looked, I don't know, weird. Like you zoned out or something and then just ended it, it didn't feel right." Daniel said, his voice getting softer at the end, which threw Lando off. No, Daniel didn't care about him, why would he.

"Oh yeah no, I was just not feeling well, that's all." Lando replied. He really didn't want to talk about this with anyone, especially not his teammate. Daniel couldn't know how weak Lando was for letting a simple message get to him that much.

"Come on man, you can talk to me." Daniel pressed, looking at Lando with an odd look. "Whatever that was, it wasn't you not feeling well. You were fine up until like five minutes before you ended." 

"Like I said, I started feeling sick. There's nothing more to it." Lando felt himself getting angry and he couldn't understand why. It was as if his mind had a mind of his own that find Daniel's questions offensive.

"Well, okay, if you say so then. Just so you know, if you ever need to talk, I'm here mate." Daniel gave Lando a small smile before saying bye and hanging up. 

It didn't take long before Lando found himself getting upset. Daniel obviously knew he was lying, and now he's gone and ruined the start of their relationship as teammates. Well fucking done, Lando. As if you could fuck up more than you already have. He couldn't help himself as his hand shot up and he slapped himself, then again and again.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

His cheek was now burning and the physical pain pushed away the mental one and took charge. So, so weak. There was nothing he could do right. His mind was a mess, half of it was calling him worthless, the other half was screaming at him for being stupid. It was a constant battle, the voice at the back of his head never stopped whispering. Lando could be having the best day of his life and he'd still hear the voice, which sounded almost like Carlos' but not quite, calling him names, telling him he'll never achieve anything.

He absentmindedly made his way into the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea. The wamrth of the liquid made it's way past his lips and into his stomach, the calming effect it usually produced not feeling as strong this time. 

\---

Lando was waiting at the airport, his backpack hanging loosely over his shoulder and his small suitcase thrown lazily behind him. He still had ten minutes to spare before he had to get on a plane to Spain, so he posted a photo to his instagram and replied to a few comments, which appeared mere seconds after it was published. 

Lando loved interacting with fans. That was one of the main reasons why he enjoyed streaming so much. Being in F1 was never about fame for him, he wasn't in it so that the world would know his name, so when the option of connecting with his fans emerged, he took it right away. Any chance he got to talk to the people who supported him always lifted his spirits.

He'd boarded the plane and made himself comfortable in the seat. He was flying alone, which he actually wasn't used to - he used to fly with Carlos, which was always extremely difficult for him. Mainly because sometimes after a race in which he did well, Carlos felt he didn't mess him up enough in his motorhome, so he'd finish the job on the plane. 

Lando forcefully shut his eyes and exhaled sharply to stop the unwanted memories from creeping up, though he couldn't help but let one slip to the surface. 

His face felt weird, the dried tears made it feel stiff. He finished P6, Carlos was P8. It was his second P6 finish, the highest he'd gotten so far in the season. He was extremely excited when he got out of the car, he was excited to congratulate the team on a great result. He expect Carlos to be happy for him.

He couldn't have been further from the truth. Carlos looked excited, he spoke of him very highly during the debrief and he even hugged him before it started. But then, when they got out of the room and all the mechanics and staff went to pack up and do their thing, Carlos put his arm around Lando's shoulders and his grip was a bit too tight. 

And he led them into his motorhome, not saying a word, not replying to any of Lando's questions. And the second the door shut behind them, Lando felt a fist collide with his stomach.

"How dare you finish ahead of me after you nearly pushed me off track," another punch, this time into his side. 

"How dare you think that you are a better driver than me." Another punch landed, Lando's knees buckled and he fell to the ground.

"Do not ever do that again. I'm the number one driver on this team. Stay behind me, you useless piece of shit." Lando gasped, as he felt Carlos kick his ribs. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like someone had stabbed him and all the air was leaving his lungs.

"Now get up and go. If you ever tell anyone, I will kill you." And with that, Carlos yanked him up, his grip on Lando's wrist so strong it left an aching mark. Lando didn't know what to do. He was stood outside his teammates motorhome, gasping for air, tears streaming down his face.

He thought Carlos was his friend. He thought he had finally met someone who he could talk to about how stressed out being in F1 made him. He thought he had met someone who he could eventually share the joy of getting podiums with.

He was so, so wrong.

Lando didn't even notice the plane had taken off, his head was resting against the window, his hands shakily resting on his thighs. It was never his intention to make Carlos mad, but after that first incident, it became a regular occurance. And sometimes, while they were on the plane, Carlos would get mad at him for breathing too loud. Lando knew at first that it was wrong, he knew he didn't deserve to be treated this way. But the more it happened, the more he felt like it was exactly what he deserved.

The spanish sky was cloudy when he got off the plane. He already had a car waiting for him at the airport, so when he put his suitcase into the boot and sat down in the back seat, he started to wonder why the driver was staying still.

"What's going on?" He questioned and shuffled uncomfortably.

"Ah yes, sorry, I was meant to tell you, we're wating for someone. He should be here any minute, his plane landed just a few minutes after yours." The driver replied. Who could they possibly be waiting for?

Suddenly, the door to his right opened and while he couldn't see his face just yet, he immediatelly knew it was Daniel. The Aussie plopped himself down right next to Lando, taking off his headphones. He didn't seem to notice the young Brit at all until he shut the door behind him and turned forwards.

"Oh hey, what are you doing in my car?" He asked, a confused expression lingering on his tanned face.

"Actually this is my car, and I was here first." Lando replied, before looking over at the driver.

"Zak told me to pick up both of you, I figured since your flights were so close, I'd just get you at the same time. You're staying in the same hotel anyways." The driver replied, pulling out of the parking lot.

Lando looked over at Daniel and was about to ask him how his winter break had gone but was caught off guard by the Aussie's expression. Daniel was staring at him, his eyes a mixture of emotion Lando couldn't read. He was about to ask what's up but he was interrupted.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked, his tone neutral, yet concerned at the same time. Lando furrowed his eyebrows. 

"What do you mean?" He asked, searching Daniel's face for any indication of what the hell he was talking about.

"You eyes are red and your face is puffy." Daniel stated and Lando's breath hitched for a second. He could under no circumstances show Daniel how pathetic he was.

"Probably because I fell asleep on the plane, been feeling super tired lately." Lando replied, though he wished his voice wasn't shaking as much as he thought it was.

"You see that's quite funny, cause I've never seen anyone look like this because they slept. I slept for half the flight and I don't look like you." Daniel said, his expression softening up a bit. He reached out with his hand and Lando tried everyting to stop himself from flinching but he couldn't. He shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the impact which never came. He slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Daniel.

His expression went from soft and concerned to completely blank. There was no emotion in his eyes, there was no smile on his lips. He was just sat there, starting at Lando who was still slightly leaning forward.

"I - uh," Lando started but was cut off by the driver announcing they've reached the hotel. Lando jumped out of the car, almost hitting his head on the roof before grabbing his suitcase and speedwalking towards the hotel. He didn't look behind himself, too terrified of what he might see.

He didn't see Daniel, who stayed inside the car for a few minutes after Lando had left. He didn't see Daniel try to piece together what happened. Daniel knew Lando had been crying, it was obvious, from his bloodshot eyes to his puffy cheeks and dried up tears. Daniel also knew Lando thought he was going to hit him. 

He had seen it before with Max, when Jos came to one of the races and Max didn't qualify well. It was almost the same exact situation. Jos raised his hand and Max instinctively leaned forward and shut his eyes before realizing what was going on and playing it off by getting down one knee and adjusting his shoelaces.

Daniel just couldn't figure out what on earth made Lando react that way. He didn't know much about him, but from the little he did know, Lando's home life was good. He never heard Lando complaing about his parents. Daniel had questions; so many questions in fact, that when he finally got out of the car and walked inside the hotel, he didn't head to his room, instead he walked straight past it and stopped three doors down the hall.

He knocked, only lightly at first, unsure about his decision to talk to Lando so soon after what had just happened, then more urgently when he didn't hear any movement on the other side of the door. He knocked again and when there still was no answer, he pulled out his phone and dialed Lando's number. He heard the phone ring inside the room, then he heard rustling and then footsteps. The door opened and Daniel barged in without looking at Lando at all, as he didn't want to risk the younger one shutting the door in his face.

He turned around once he was stood in the middle of the room, before he let go of his suitcase and cautiously sat down on Lando's bed. Lando sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk, but it seemed that Daniel had made up his mind and wouldn't leave without some kind of an explanation. Lando shut the door, before making his way over to the bed, his eyes glued to the floor. He sat down on his pillow, his back resting against the wall behind him. 

He couldn't bring himself to look at Daniel, his eyes instead glued to his hands as he played with the strings of his hoodie. There was silence between the two of them for what felt like hours. Lando knew exactly what Daniel wanted to talk about. Lando also knew he absolutely couldn't tell Daniel the truth.

"If I ask you if you're alright, are you gonna lie again?" Daniel soft voice broke the silence. He spoke barely loud enough for Lando to hear what he said, as if he was afraid that speaking at full volume would break the twenty-one-year-old into pieces. Lando shrugged. 

"I don't know." Lando answered. It was definitely not the answer Daniel was looking for, because he let out an audible sigh. Lando looked up at his for the first time. Daniel was sat right across him, his eyes scanning Lando's face. he looked genuinely upset, which confused Lando, because what the hell did he have to be upset about. Daniel noticed Lando was looking at him and gave him a small smile. He was going to reach out and put his hand on Lando's lower leg but stopped himself. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Daniel asked, concern still lingering in his tone. Lando shifted on the bed and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

"I mean, there's not much to talk about, really." He said, trying to stop his voice from shaking. "I just, I haven't been sleeping well. I haven't seen my family over winter break at all and I just miss them. It all just kinda came crashing down, you know. One of those days." Lando replied, not daring to look at Daniel in case the Aussie could somehow tell he was lying. He saw Daniel get up and walk over to his side of the bed. He knelt down beside him and looked him directly in the eyes.

"You don't have to be ashamed of that, we all go through it mate. You don't have to hide it or lie about it, no one's gonna look at you different because you miss your family." Daniel smiled at him and opened his arms. Lando wasn't sure if he wanted Daniel to touch him, but he also couldn't have Daniel being suspicious so he carefuly slid into his arms and let the Aussie embrace him. It was uncomfortable to say the least, the position Lando was sitting it meant he had to rotate his entire upper body and he had no idea what to do with his hands, so he just carefully wrapped them around Daniel's back, yet barely touching the Aussie at all.

Daniel soon released him from and stood back up before walking over to his suitcase.

"I'm gonna go to my room and unpack, then I'll come back and we can watch a movie or something, alright mate?" He said as he made his way over to the door. Lando felt he was too tired to watch a movie but to keep up his appearances about being fine, he nodded and got up from the bed himself.

"Okay, just call me when you get here, I might go take a shower or something." Lando requested before watching Daniel leave the room and shutting the door behind him.

Daniel could tell Lando was full of shit, but he decided pressing the issue any further would just cause trouble and he didn't want to make Lando uncomfortable. Instead, he decided he'd just wait for Lando. He'd show the young Brit that he's always around and always willing to listen and maybe Lando would eventually open up to him.

Daniel hated seeing people in pain, especially people that didn't deserve it. It was like seeing young Max all over again. And it took Daniel two years before he finally got Max to open up to him and tell him just how much he was suffering. And Daniel was proud to say that he did everything he could to make Max feel better. He always answered his phone calls, even if it was two in the morning and he had plans the next day. He was always willing to talk to him, no matter the topic. He was always there, right by Max's side when Jos was around and he never let Max out of his sight if the Dutchman did poorly on track.

And even if Lando didn't want his help now, Daniel wouldn't give up. Because maybe one day down the line, Lando would need Daniel and he was not going to not help.

He unpacked rather quickly by opening the suitcase and dumping all of it's contents onto the bed. He didn't want to leave Lando waiting for too long, so this way, he'd be forced to put his clothes away before going to bed. He changed into an oversized hoodie and sweatpants before he put his phone into his pocket and grabbed his keycard from the bedside table. 

Lando had managed to take a quick shower before he heard his phone ring and he made his way out of the steaming bathroom. He quickly put on more comfortable clothes, an old McLaren T-Shirt and a pair of shorts before he opened the door. Daniel walked in and jumped onto the bed, spreading his body over the entire thing. He grabbed the remote and loaded up netflix right away. 

"So, what are we watching tonight?" He asked before noticing Lando was awkwardly standing next to the bed. Daniel moved aside and let the younger one sit down next to him.

"I don't know, you choose. I don't really watch movies." Lando replied while pulling up the blanket and covering his bare legs with it.

"You ever seen Dumb & Dumber?" Daniel asked, already looking the movie up. Lando shook his head and Daniel gasped. 

"You're in for one hell of a ride, mate. One of my favorite movies of all time. It's a classic." Daniel beamed, pressing play on the remote.

Lando had to agree that the movie was certainly entertaining but he was also getting more and more tired with every minute passing. It didn't take long before his head slumped to the side, landing directly on Daniel's shoulder. The Aussie looked over at him, the concerned expression once again obvious on his face. Lando looked so incredibly peaceful while he slept and Daniel couldn't bring himself to wake him up. So instead, he reached over and put his arm around Lando's shoulders, and kept watching the movie, occasionally laughing quietly to himself.

There was only a few scenes left when Lando suddenly stirred before violently turning away from Daniel. 

"No, no, please, no, don't." He was speaking loudly but didn't wake himself up. Daniel was alarmed. He paused the movie and sat up, carefully watching Lando, who wouldn't stop trashing his arms.

"Please, I won't do it again, I won't do it again just please, stop, stop hitting me, stop hitting me." He begged and Daniel noticed tears, which had escaped Lando's closed eyes. He carefully put his hand on Lando's shoulder, his fingers drawing circles in an attempt to calm him down. 

"Lando? Lando wake up, wake up." Daniel said, his voice loud enough to wake the Brit. Lando shot up and his breathing was uneven. He seemed disoriented, frantically looking around himself before pulling his knees up to his chest, burying his head between them and rocking back and forth. He was whispering something to himself, but Daniel couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

"Hey, hey, shh, you're okay, you're okay." Daniel whispered, his hand still resting on Lando's shoulder. Lando's breathing was rapid and shallow and Daniel knew that if he didn't stop it, Lando would end up having a panic attack. He had seen his fair share of them with Max.

He reached over with his free hand and slowly wrapped his fingers around Lando's wrist, taking his hand and putting it against his own chest. 

"Lando I need you to look at me, can you do that?" Daniel pleaded and was surprised when Lando actually met his gaze. "Okay, can you feel my breathing?" He asked and Lando nodded lightly.

"I want you to breathe with me, okay? In and out. In and out. Just like that. You're doing great." He assured and Lando slowly started to take control of his body again. "There you go, just like that. You're okay." Daniel said, squeezing Lando's shoulder lightly. They sat there for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes. Lando's hand was still resting on Daniel's chest, the comfort of feeling his heartbeat calming Lando down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Daniel asked quietly. "You don't have to, if you don't want to." He reasurred and gave Lando a small smile. 

"I don't want to." Lando replied, his voice hoarse and weak, which tugged at Daniel's heart.

"Okay, do you want to go back to sleep?" Daniel asked and Lando nodded, slowly laying himself back down. Daniel was about to get up when Lando reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Can you stay? Please?" The Brit pleaded, the uncertainty in his voice making Daniel even more upset than he already was. Whoever did this, whoever broke the boy in front of him would one day pay for it. Daniel would make sure.

"Of course, I'm not leaving." He reassured. "Do you mind if I take my hoodie off? I don't want to get hot." He asked and Lando shook his head. Daniel pulled his hoodie over his head and threw it on the ground before realizing he wasn't wearing a T-Shirt underneath it. Lando didn't seem to mind, so he slipped under the covers before reaching over and turning the TV off with the remote.

There was now silence in the room, that was only interrupted by Lando's still uneven breathing. Within seconds, Lando seemed to be asleep and Daniel laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. His mind was racing at incredible speed and he was so lost as to what to do. How long has this been going on? Did Carlos know about it? Him and Lando seemed to be very good friends, he must've known something was off. Daniel couldn't help think about how many times Lando had woken up like this without anyone there to calm him down.

His mind stopped in it's tracks when he felt a light touch on his arm. Lando was still asleep, but he had moved much, much closer to dan and was now basically leaning against him with his back. Daniel contemplated his options for a second before rolling over to his side and wrapping an arm around Lando's skinny frame.

It took only a few minutes after that and he was fast asleep, dreaming about a brown haired boy and a calming, australian beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a few years since I've written anything, long gone are the days of wattpad fics. I hope to update this regularly, though I can't promise much due to uni and work. Hope you enjoy.


	2. Old Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to put a TW here for violence. It's going to get worse before it can get better.

Lando woke up and slowly opened his eyes before forcing them shut again in an attempt to stop the harsh sunlight from damaging his vision. He tried turning away from the window but was stopped by someting warm and soft, that was holding him in place. 

Lando carefully looked behind himself, his eyes going wide at the sight of a sleeping Daniel, whose bare chest was pressed up against Lando's back, his arm wrapped tightly around the Brit's stomach. He was about to start panicking when memories of last night came flooding in. He remembered watching a movie, then falling asleep. He remembered waking up and being unable to breathe and Daniel helping him calm down. 

He couldn't believe he had asked Daniel to stay with him for the night, he also couldn't believe he pretended to be asleep and pressing up against the Aussie so he would hold him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He figured waiting for Daniel to wake up and leave would be his best option. That way, he could pretend last night never happened, at least for a little while, because he was certain Daniel would want to talk about it eventually.

So he stayed put, trying to move as little as possible, even though he was getting quite hot under the covers. He focused on the way Daniel's chest expanded against his back every time he took a breath, the rhythm calming him down and lulling him back to sleep.

When he awoke for the second time that morning, Daniel was nowhere to be seen. Lando exhaled in relief, thankful that for now, the crisis has been averted. He had thirty minutes before he had to leave and get to the track, so he figured he might as well take a shower. 

The warm water was quite soothing against his pale skin. It was the first time in a while since he had gotten a good night's sleep. Being in Daniel's arms felt safe. For the first time in a long time, he felt like no one could hurt him, no one could bring him down. 

He stepped out of the shower and put on his new McLaren team wear. He had to agree that this years design was great, though he didn't mind the almost plain white tees they had last year. He packed a bag and took his phone off the charger before leaving his room and taking the elevator down to the lobby.

He stepped into the car that was waiting outside the hotel, the early morning bringing a fair amount of chilly wind with it. He exchanged pleasantries with the driver and then put his earbuds in, letting the music engulf him and take him away, even if just for a few minutes.

Testing went well. He did a total of 32 laps in the first hour and the car felt amazing. It was also much faster than last year's car. He was comfortably sitting a few tenths off the Red Bulls and he was certain he'd get closer to them with a few tweaks to the setup.

He got out of the car and went over the data with his engineers before excusing himself and heading out into the paddock, making his way towards his motor home. He was lost in thought and didn't notice the man in a red tee following him until he felt a hand slap his back.

"You miss me?" Carlos questioned, a smile dancing on his lips. Lando looked around and saw a ton of people walking back and forth, giving him a sense of relief. At least Carlos couldn't do anything to him right there. 

"Daniel!" Lando exclaimed, noticing the Aussie leaning against the McLaren hospitality suit. Daniel waved at him and started walking towards them. Lando felt Carlos' hand slide off his back and he subconsciously stepped away from the Spaniard. 

"Hey Carlos, how've you been? Hope you don't miss Lando here too much, we've been having a lot of fun." Daniel smirked and winked at Lando, who couldn't help but look down at his shoes. Daniel inserted himself between Carlos and Lando, who decided he didn't actually need to go to his motor home, instead stopping in the cafeteria of the hospitality suit. 

He saw Daniel stay behind with Carlos, chatting about whatever so he got himself a cup of coffee. When he walked back out, Carlos was gone and Daniel was stood still, waiting for him. They started walking back to the garage together in silence. Just before they were about to walk in, Daniel stopped and turned around to face the younger one.

"Are we going to talk about it?" He asked, his eyes searching Lando's face, which made the Brit uncomforable. He looked down, too scared to meet Daniel's brown eyes.

"Maybe yeah, I don't know. Can we not do this now?" Lando pleaded, still refusing to look at the Aussie. He heard Daniel sigh, which caused him to look up again. He knew Daniel was upset with him. He hated himself for making his team mate upset, but there was nothing else he could do.

"We can talk whenever you want, okay? Day and night, just let me know, call me, send a message, knock on my door. No matter the time, I'm here, okay?" Daniel said, the sincerity in his voice almost making Lando tear up. He didn't dare speaking, too terrified of what his voice would sound like, so he nodded instead, before heading back inside the garage, Daniel following close behind.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly. The car was a beast. Lando was having a great time out on track while also knowing when to be serious and giving the team as much information about the behaviour of the car. Him and Daniel were very close to each other in terms of lap times. Though they didn't matter much in testing, it was still nice to see that overall, they were the fastest midfield car by a decent margin. 

The gap between Red Bull and Mercedes was also much smaller than it was this time last year. Ferrari and Aston Martin were miles off the McLarens, Alpine and Alpha Tauri following somewhat closely behind them. A nice surprise was the Williams cars, which seemed to be faster than the Haas cars and Alfa Romeos. Lando knew this season was going to be great, especially if they could keep the pace they had now. He believed they could aim for podiums way more often than last year.

When he got out of the car for the last time that day, he was knackered. The sun was starting to set and every other team had already started packing, except for Haas, which judging by the frantically running and shouting mechanics had some sort of an issue. He saw Daniel chatting with his engineer on the other side of the garage, the expression on his face being one of pure focus before the engineer said something to him and Daniel started laughing.

Lando checked with everyone on his side of the garage before changing out of his fireproofs and into normal clothes. He stepped outside the garage when his phone rang and he saw he had 6 missed messages from his brother. He picked up and started chatting away, mainly saying how incredibly tired he was. Oliver knew exactly what Lando was talking about right away having been around his fair share of races.

They spoke for a while before Lando said he was too tired to continue and would fall sleep on the ground if he didn't get back to his hotel room. He said a quick goodbye before stuffing his phone into the pocket of his shorts and slowly dragging his numb feet towards the paddock exit. He was lost in thought, the memories of last night and this morning circling around in his head, different scenarios making their way to the front. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Daniel. After all, getting a broken, worthless team mate was certainly not what he had signed up for. 

He also had to come up with a bullshit explanation for what had happened last night. He was still one hundred percent certain that telling Daniel the truth was in no way going to happen. It was still only his third year in F1 and Carlos was liked by pretty much everyone in the sport. That didn't stop his mind from wondering what would happen, if things came to light. He didn't really have any proof. The only thing he had was that night in Abu Dhabi when drunk Daniel saw his bruises. Would anyone believe him? No, he'd probably be shunned and have to leave the sport all together.

He never imagined himself like this. Sure, he had always struggled with confidence and the feelings of inadequacy, ever since he started racing. He knew that at any given time, there was someone out there who was better than him. Still, he had never imagined ending up like this. A small part of him knew it wasn't his fault, but it was overshadowed by the screaming voice in his head telling him he was the only one to blame.

He didn't even realize he made it to the hotel if not for the ding of the elevator, signaling he reached his floor. The door slid open, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He knew right away who's back he was staring at. 

"Took you long enough, where the hell have you been?" Carlos' voice echoed throughout the hallway and Lando swallowed loudly.

"The track." He tried to make his voice sound as firm as possible, failing miserably. Carlos smirked, fully aware of how terrified the younger one was.

"Go on then, get the door open. Been waiting here long enough." He commanded, grabbing Lando's upper arm. Lando felt the Spaniard's fingernails dig deep into his skin. He hissed and slowly walked over to his door. It was then he noticed the smell of alcohol lingering around Carlos.

"Look, I'm really tired, I just want to go to sleep." Lando tried, knowing full well it wouldn't have any effect. Carlos' eyes went dark as he stepped closer to the Brit, forcefully grabbing his wrist.

"Open the fucking door." He hissed into Lando's ear, making the younger one shudder. Lando's hands were shaking violently as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keycard. He knew what was about to happen and his mind was racing, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. The light on the lock turned green and before he could even react, Carlos pushed him into the room, kicking the door shut behind them.

Lando didn't even have time to react before he felt a fist collide with his back. It knocked the wind out of him for a second, Carlos giving him no time to recover before hitting him again. Carlos kicked Lando's legs, making him fall to the ground.

"You think you're better than me, huh?" He asked, his voice cold, emotionless. "You think just 'cause you have a good car, you're a better driver than me?" Lando's vision was already starting to go black, he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. Carlos didn't waste any time before kicking the Brit's ribs. There was an audible crack and Lando cried out in pain.

"I'm honestly so surprised McLaren even decided to keep you," Carlos got down on his knees, bending over to whisper into Lando's ear. "If you ever finish higher than me, you know what's going to happen." And with that, Carlos got up and left the room, leaving Lando whimpering on the floor.

\--

Lando was woken up by the sound of someone knocking. His room was dark, signaling that he had probably been asleep for quite a bit. The silence in the room was broken as another knock tore through it. Lando got up slowly, whimpering at the searing pain in his ribs. He ignored the knocking, instead making his way into the bathroom. His face was swollen from crying, tear tracks still visible against his pale skin. He slowly lifted up his shirt, biting on his lower lip to stop himself from crying out.

He could already see the dark, purple bruise forming on his left side. He traced his fingers over it, gasping in pain as he touched his rib. Definitely broken. He let his shirt fall back down and turned the tap on, washing his face. Every bit of movement sent a jolt of pain through his entire body. This was bad. He still had two days of testing, he couldn't just not go.

The knocking stopped, so Lando didn't even bother checking. He instead walked over to his bed and laid down, trying to find a position that wouldn't make him scream out in pain. He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his shorts and saw he had three new messages from Daniel.

Daniel: wanna watch another movie tonight? I can come over and chill for a bit

Daniel: i assume you just didn't see that message, i'll be over in 10

Daniel: i'm guessing you're asleep, so i'll let you off the hook today. if you need something just call me

Lando put his phone away and shut his eyes, letting sleep takeover him.

He woke up screaming. The clock on the wall read 1:27am as he frantically looked around the dark room. He felt like he couldn't catch his breath, his head spinning and his entire body drenched in sweat. He felt like he was about to suffocate. Without thinking, he got up from his bed, ignoring the pain he felt in his side and ran out of the room and down the empty hallway.

He stopped in front of Daniel's door, his vision already going black as he knocked on the thick wood. His breathing was rapid and he felt like passing out. Just as the door swung open, he collapsed forward only to feel two arms wrap around his thin frame.

"Hey L- oh my god." The voice sounded miles away, he could barely understand it. He felt his feet leave the ground beneath them as he was being carried. His body made contact with the soft fabric of bedsheets and while subconsiously he knew he was safe, the state of his mind didn't allow him to calm down one bit. The warmth of Daniel's grip left his back and he immediately reached out with his hand, trying to stop Daniel from leaving him. He did not want to be alone right now.

"Hey, hey, I'm not going anywhere, just getting you some water." Daniel grabbed his hand to reassure him. Lando was too weak to speak so as soon as Daniel's hand left his grip, he pulled his knees up to his chest. The pain he felt in his sides immediately afterwards made him yell out. Milliseconds later, he felt the bed dip as Daniel sat down next to him. He felt his hand being held and then it was pressed against Daniel's chest. 

"Now just like last time, slowly in, slowly out. You're doing great." Daniel assured. Lando was focused on the feeling of Daniel's beating heart. As soon as Daniel liked the pace of Lando's breaths, he wrapped his arms around the Brit. Lando found himself gripping the back of Daniel' shirt in his fists, as if to stop him from ever leaving. 

It was only when Daniel's arm moved across his ribs did Lando jerk away. The Aussie furrowed his eyebrows before slowly reaching out with his hand and lifting Lando's chin up.

"Are you hurt?" He questioned and Lando felt tears escape his eyes. "Can you show me?" Daniel pleaded, his voice soft yet reasurring. Lando hesitated for a second, before slowly lifting his shirt up and pulling it over his head. He immediately felt naked, Daniel's eyes scanning his rather thin body. His breath hitched when he felt the Aussie's warm fingers trace over the black bruise. The lightness of his touch made Lando feel warm on the inside. 

"What happened?" Daniel felt his heart ache at the sight, he didn't know what to do. Sure, he's seen something similar with Max a couple years back when Max and his dad got into an argument. In that situation though, Daniel had all the information he'd ever need. Here? He had no clue.

"I was mugged on the way to the hotel. They wanted my wallet but I didn't have it on me. They didn't believe me." Lando was lying through his teeth. He felt bad about it, but at the same time, telling Daniel the truth was out of the question. He couldn't even imagine what the fallout would be like if the entire story came to light. Daniel believed him. Then again, why wouldn't he? He had no reason to suspect anything else.

"Mate you can't get into the car like this. I'm no doctor but I've seen broken ribs before and you've certainly got a couple." Daniel couldn't even imagine the amount of pain Lando must've been in.

"It's no big deal, I'm fine." Lando tried to argue, after all, he's raced with a broken rib before, testing was nothing compared to that. Daniel shook his head and moved his hand away from Lando's side.

"You really don't have to act tough around me, I'm gonna call Zak tomorrow morning and loop him in, you're gonna stay in bed."

Lando didn't think this far ahead. If Daniel tells Zak that Lando got mugged, Zak is definitely going to get the police involved.

"Alright fine, I'll stay here, but I wanna tell Zak myself." Lando said, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head. There was an awkward silence lingering in the air. Daniel got up from his bed, and Lando found himself missing the warmth he provided. He started to get up, wincing slightly as he straightened his back.

"Are you leaving?" Daniel asked which caught Lando off guard. "Cause I was gonna put a movie on, if you want that is." The Aussie added and Lando slowly sat back down.

"Yeah alright, I'd like that." He made himself comfortable while Daniel looked for the remote. Soon enough, the TV was on and Daniel was swiftly scrolling through netlix. He landed on a movie called Talladega Nights and pressed play.

"I think you'll enjoy this one, I love it." He said as he plopped himself down next to Lando. This time, Lando didn't fall asleep half way through the movie and found himself enjoying it quite a bit. Daniel occasionaly made a funny comment, earning a chuckle from Lando each time. It's only when the movie comes to an end does Lando realize how late it is.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have kept you up this long." He apologized, kind of expecting Daniel to be angry with him.

"Oh I don't mind at all, I probably wouldn't have been able to fall asleep anyway." Lando was confused by that statement and was about to ask for clarification when Daniel continued. "I am knackered now though, just gonna take a quick shower." He said as he got up from the bed and reached under his pillow for his pyjama pants.

Lando watched the bathroom door close behind the Aussie as he's left with his own thoughts. He should probably leave and let Daniel sleep in peace, but the last thing he wanted to do was go back to his room. He was still not feeling well and he really didn't want to be alone so when Daniel came out of the bathroom minutes later and found that Lando hadn't moved an inch and was staring at him with an odd expression, he raised an eyebrow.

"Can I stay here? I don't wanna be alone tonight." Lando blurted out, immediately doubting whether or not Daniel understood a word of what he just said.

"Oh yeah, I was sorta counting on it. You can stay if you want." He gave Lando a smile before pulling a towel over his wet hair and drying it. Lando watched him intently, the way his muscles moved with each pull at the fabric was captivating to him and Lando found himself blushing and looking away before Daniel could notice. He shuffled to the edge of the bed, not wanting to make Daniel uncomfortable. The Aussie gave him and odd look as he slid under the covers and turned off the TV, shrouding the room in complete darkness.

"That cannot be comfortable mate." He said and Lando looked at him. Daniel was on his side, his head propped up against his hand.

"What do you mean?" Lando questioned, not quite sure what to do with Daniel's observation.

"You look like you're about to fall off the bed. You can come closer, I don't bite." Lando felt his cheeks heat up and he couldn't be more thankful for the darkness of the room in that moment, yet he did as he was told and moved closer to Daniel, still making sure to stay on his side of the bed.

"Good night then." He heard Daniel mumble and he closed his eyes. Just before he fell asleep, he felt an arm find it's way across his chest and warm breath against his shoulder and he couldn't help but smile, just a tiny bit.

Lando was woken up by an alarm he didn't recognize. Before he could even open his eyes, he noticed the weight pressing up against his body. He looked down and saw a mop of dark brown hair on his chest. He almost freaked out before he remembered last night's events. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in before attempting to carefully reaching over to the nightstand and turning off the alarm.

He either wasn't careful enough or quick enough as he heard Daniel groan and slowly wake up.

"Oh, sorry about that." Daniel apologized as he moved away from Lando, who found himself missing the warmth.

"It's fine I uh- I don't mind." The Brit admitted, trying to stop the blood from pooling in his cheeks. He watched Daniel roll over and yawn. The clock on the wall read 8:00 am and Lando groaned, remembering what he had agreed to last night. There was no way he was going to miss practice, now he just had to figure out a way to get there and stop Daniel from telling anyone about what happened. Well, actually what didn't happen, but still.

"Right well, I'm gonna go wash this beautiful face, you're free to stay here if you want." Daniel grinned as he got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom. Lando figured he'd wait for Daniel to leave the room before getting to the track himself. That way, he felt like Daniel wouldn't be able to confront him directly, with all the people around, anyways. He shut his eyes once he heard the water turn off and pretended to be asleep while Daniel got dressed and left his room.

He stayed put for a couple of minutes, just in case, before he got up and made his way back into his own room. He didn't have time to shower, so he just splashed some water into his face, used more deodorant than usual and got dressed. The pain in his ribs subsided, though he still felt it with every movement. It was more manageble.

He was only a couple minutes late when he stepped inside the hospitality suit, glad to see Daniel was nowhere in sight. He walked through the cafeteria and out the back door before stepping into his motor home and changing into his fireproofs and race suit. He drank a bit of water before walking back into the cafeteria and grabbing a plastic container with salad in it.

When he finally reached the garage, Daniel was already out on track, which made Lando relieved. He apologized for being late and listened to Will about today's programme. He was munching on his salad while doing so, earning an odd look from Will.

"Late night?" He asked, smiling at the young Brit. 

"Sort of, just didn't get much sleep, really." Lando answered, happy with the fact that he technically wasn't lying.

He finished his salad and got into the car, ready for tyre testing. All he had to do was take the new 2021 tyres around the track as many times as possible. They needed to know exactly how the tyres behave in low speed, medium speed and high speed corners, how much overall grip they have and how much performance they're going to lose over one lap in a race setting. That basically meant Lando had to drive a ton today and make sure his lap times were at least somewhat consistent.

He drove out of the pits just as Daniel's McLaren was speeding down the start/finish straight. He caught a glimpse of Daniel, his head turned towards him. All he could do at that very moment was hope that Daniel wouldn't come into the pits and start asking questions.

He stayed out on track for 20 laps in his first stint with the soft compound tyres, eventually getting called in to look over the data and either do another run on softs or switch to the mediums. 

He got out of the car and his heart sank when he saw Daniel's car parked on the other side of the garage. He stopped the car in front of his side of it and let the mechanics push him inside before he got out of the car and quickly scanned the room. Daniel wasn't there and he felt the tiniest bit of relief. That was until Will called him over and said that Daniel was in the hospitality suit and wanted to talk to him. They went over the data, agreeing that they got pretty much everything they needed so he was done with softs and would go out on mediums for the next stint.

Lando excused himself, saying he better go find out what Daniel wanted before leaving the garage and rather slowly walking towards the hospitality suit. He immediately saw Daniel, leaning against the building and as he slowly approached, he felt his throat dry up.

"You want to talk to me?" Lando tried asking innocently, though as soon as he saw the unreadable look in Daniel's eyes, he had to avert his gaze.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought we agreed you wouldn't get in the damn car." Daniel sounded upset, angry even, which caught Lando off guard. Why did he even care?

"Look, we've only got 3 days of testing. I can't let the team down by not participating. I just did 22 laps and I feel fine, if it gets too much to handle, I'll stop." He explained. He couldn't imagine how disappointed the team would be if he had missed even a day of testing. Especially now, when the amount of days they had available was cut in half from six to three.

Daniel sighed. Lando knew he didn't agree with him, but he felt like the reason why he was doing this was understandable.

"Look I get it, but if you hurt yourself, what then?" Daniel questioned.

"I won't hurt myself. Like I said, I just spent an hour in the car and it didn't feel that bad. If it hurts too much, I'll talk to Zak, explain what had happened and sit the rest of the day out." He felt like he was trying to convince Daniel that this was a good idea, even though he himself knew it definitely wasn't. The Aussie seemed to have come to the conclusion that there was absolutely no point in fighting Lando over this. He gave Lando a small smile, before putting his hand on Lando shoulder and squeezing it.

"You're an idiot, you know?" He grinned. Lando chuckled, glad that he was able to get Daniel to leave him alone in a way. They grabbed coffee before heading back to the garage side by side.

Lando managed to test the mediums without much trouble, it was only when he got the hards and had to do literally as many laps as possible did he start to feel a bit uncomfortable in the car. He'd managed to do 40 laps before the pain became just a bit too much and he felt like his performance wasn't going to produce accurate results. He radioed his engineer and asked to come in early because he had developed a migraine and his vision was starting to get a bit blurry from the pain. He was told to box and when he got out of the car, he started squinting to make his excuse more believable. He was given some ibuprofen and in the end his enginners were quite happy with the 40 laps he managed to do, the results being just enough so he didn't have to go out again.

Still, before he left, he apologized to everyone there and started heading towards his motor home for the last time that day. He noticed Daniel had already left the garage a couple of minutes before him, so he wasn't surprised to hear muffled humming coming out of Daniel's motor home. He got changed and waited for Daniel outside.

"So, what do you think?" He asked as soon as the Aussie closed the door behind himself. Lando figured if he could steer the conversation elsewhere, Daniel wouldn't ask him uncomfortable questions.

"What about?" Daniel asked as they started heading out.

"The car, the team, anything really." Lando shrugged.

"Honestly? It's been great so far, though I couldn't help but notice that everyone loves you." Daniel chuckled and Lando gave a confused "What?".

"Well all I hear is Lando this, Lando that. It's not a bad thing I guess, just definitely wasn't like this at Renault. To be fair, it kind of reminds me of Red Bull when Max first got there. People wouldn't shut up about him." The Aussie explained and Lando suddenly felt bad. He didn't want Daniel to feel like he wasn't important to the team.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said and Daniel chuckled.

"It's alright, I get it. I mean, you've been with them for two years and I'm not surprised they love you. You're a nice kid." Lando groaned at that response because while he was younger than Daniel, he wasn't a kid anymore and he didn't want Daniel to think of him like one. Then again, why wouldn't he? After all, they've only been team mates for like two days and Daniel has already seen Lando cry twice, had to save him from two panic attacks and wake him up from a nightmare. 

"You alright?" His thoughts were interrupted by Daniel's concerned voice.

"Yeah fine, why?" He asked, not sure if Daniel had noticed his sudden change in behaviour.

"You just zoned out there for a second mate." Daniel's eyes were scanning his face and he felt naked under his piercing gaze.

"Just tired, thinking about a warm bed, that's all." He joked and was happy enough when he heard Daniel giggle.

"You gonna sleep in your own bed tonight?" Daniel poked at him, a grin spread across his face.

"Yeah sorry about that, I'm not gonna interrupt you again, don't worry." Lando said, hoping he didn't sound as weak as he felt in that moment. He couldn't explain why, but he knew he'd miss the warmth of Daniel's body when he slept. He couldn't really admit that though.

"No bother, I don't mind. Max was the same way." Dan said, immediately realizing he wasn't supposed to do so, putting a hand over his mouth. "You didn't hear that." He said putting a finger over his lips. 

"What do you mean?" Lando pressed, his interest at an all time high. Him and Max were friends, at least for the most part and he was certain Max was nothing like him.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone." Daniel said as they reached the hotel and Daniel opened the door for Lando, who blushed but stepped inside.

"I won't." Lando confirmed.

"He used to have nightmares too. I didn't realize what they were at first, because he'd just start thrashing in his sleep. I saw it on a plane about a month into our first season together. He'd mostly wake himself up and play it off like nothing was wrong, but after a while, they got worse." Daniel sighed.

"The first time he had a really bad one, he woke up and couldn't breathe. He called me on the phone and I had to run up three flights of stairs into his hotel room." Daniel smiled sadly. "He never spoke about it. Never mentioned it, never even hinted at it. But every time he had a bad one, he'd call me and I'd come running. I got pretty good at calming him down. Eventually, he became too scared to sleep alone, and would mostly come over to my room, we'd watch a movie to take his mind off of whatever was going on."

Lando felt tears streaming down his cheeks as he listened to the Aussie. He had never met anyone who he could relate to on this level.

"You said he used to have them? He doesn't anymore?" Lando whispered.

"He found out what was causing them and manged to get himself away from it. Eventually, they stopped. He still calls me, ocasionally, when he has one but it's been months since he called." 

The elevator door opened and they stepped out. Lando hesitated for a second, before stopping in the middle of the hallway and grabbing Daniel's arm.

He slid his arms around the Aussie's waist and buried his head in the soft fabric of Daniel's hoodie. He whispered a "Thank you." before pulling away and walking towards his room. He heard Daniel mumble something but didn't turn around. He stepped into his room, immediatelly stripping off and walking into the bathroom. 

The day was long and the warmth of the shower made every muscle in his body relax. He eventually noticed the wrinkles on his fingertips, deciding he had been in the shower long enough. He stepped out and dried himself off, before wrapping a towel around his waist and walking into the bedroom. He found a clean pair of sweatpants and a loose shirt, put them on and sat down on his bed.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through instagram for a couple minutes before a message popped up at the top of the screen.

Daniel: just so you know, if you ever don't want to be alone, my door is always open

And before Lando could realize what he was doing, he got up from his bed, turned off the lights and walked down the hallway. He knocked twice, waiting for Daniel to open the door. He didn't say a word, instead he made his way to the bed and sat down on the edge. Daniel smiled at him, though it wasn't his usual bright grin he was so well know for. Lando looked down at the ground beneath his feet, all of a sudden feeling embarrased. That was until Daniel walked over to the bed, laid down and patted the mattress next to him.

Lando hesitated for a second, but he moved up and laid down. He felt Daniel move next to him and then he felt the familiar warmth press up against his back. He froze for a second, as this was the first time they were both awake and they couldn't make up any excuses. Daniel was willing to hold him, to make sure he was safe and Lando was more than happy to accept it.

He relaxed and snuggled closer to Daniel. Ignoring the blood pooling in his cheeks.

"Thank you." Was all Lando managed to say before falling asleep.

"Goodnight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for the feedback on the first chapter, I'm genuinely happy to hear that y'all enjoy this! I've had this and the previous chapter written for quite a while now, that's why I was able to get this out right after the first one. From now on, my goal is to update once/twice a week.
> 
> Any feedback is appreciated!


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